The monthly LinkedIn Workforce Report for October 2018 revealed gross hiring in the US was up 3.8%, higher than for the same period the previous year. With seasonally adjusted national hiring down only 0.3% from September to October 2018, the job market is still very strong.

October 2018 LinkedIn Workforce Report

This, however, comes as LinkedIn says hiring has leveled off since the summer, which led the company to ask whether this was a temporary breather or a more sustained pause in the fourth quarter of 2018 and moving forward.

The LinkedIn employment outlook differs in that it provides a comprehensive report on employment trends in the US. It looks into hiring, skill gaps, and migration trends across the country along with a city section which provides insights into localized employment across 20 of the largest US metro areas.

For small businesses looking for their next hire, this report offers valuable information on local talent as well as markets around the country, trends which can affect their industry, growth segments and more.

LinkedIn says this report is designed to give users insights to better understand and navigate the dynamics of today’s economy.

Report Highlights

Public safety, corporate services, and software and IT services had the biggest year-over-year hiring increases in October, which were 10.3, 10.2, and 9.7 percent higher respectively.

Some other industries which did relatively well include wellness and fitness at 7.8%, transportation,and logistics at 7.1%, and agriculture at 7.9%.

On the downside, the entertainment industry was at -6.1% followed by public administration which was also down by -5.1%.

The data for skill gaps in the country continues to affect regions differently. Cities know for a certain type of industry are especially susceptible.

For this month, San Francisco is top on the list with a skill shortage of 1,277,165 people. This was followed by New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, and Seattle rounding out the top five cities with the largest shortage in skill gap.

According to LinkedIn, it identifies a skill gap as a mismatch between the skills employers need or demand and the skills workers have. A skill is in shortage when employee demand exceeds local worker supply.

The cities with the largest skill surplus are led by New York city with 171,481 people followed by Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis – St. Paul, and Detroit as the top five cities having to deal with this particular problem.

Job Migration

The skill shortages and surplus lead people looking for work to migrate towards the best cities to find a job in their industry. This month Austin, TX; Denver, CO; Nashville, TN; Charlotte, NC; and Las Vegas, NV had the largest number of job migration in the country.

The top three cities which lost the most people because they are going elsewhere are Wichita, KS; State College, PA; and Bryan-College Station, TX.

LinkedIn analyzes the migration of its members in and out of US cities for the past 12 months to develop the list of the cities that gained or lost the most workers.

To get additional details for each of the 20 cities LinkedIn analyzes, click below.